{"id":1620174,"date":"2022-08-23T11:16:56","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T15:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1620174"},"modified":"2022-08-23T11:17:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T15:17:04","slug":"legendary-friday-night-lights-coach-dead-at-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/legendary-friday-night-lights-coach-dead-at-73\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary \u2018Friday Night Lights\u2019 Coach Dead At 73"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flegendary-friday-night-lights-coach-dead-at-73%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1620174&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Longtime high school <a href=\"https:\/\/dailywire.com\/news\/manhunt-ends-for-ex-nfl-stars-brother-suspected-of-killing-youth-football-coach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">football<\/a> coach Gary Gaines has passed away at the age of 73, according to a statement released by his family on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Gaines, whose coaching career spanned four decades, was the inspiration behind the popular book and film \u201cFriday Night Lights,\u201d where he was portrayed by actor <a href=\"https:\/\/dailywire.com\/news\/15-patriotic-movie-moments-that-will-make-you-proud-to-be-an-american\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Billy Bob Thornton<\/a>. His family stated that he had passed after a long battle with Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFollowing a long battle with Alzheimer\u2019s Disease, it is with great sadness that the family of Coach Gary Gaines announces his peaceful passing this afternoon. Memorial plans will be announced in the coming days. Thank you for remembering our family in your thoughts and prayers,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n<p>Gaines\u2019 career began at Petersburg High School in Texas in 1977, after which he coached at Permian High School \u2014 where he assisted head coach John Wilkins in leading his 1980 team to the Texas 5A championship. \u201cFriday Night Lights\u201d follows the Permian High School team through its 1988 season.<\/p>\n<p>Abilene Christian University, where Gaines also coached for several years, paid tribute to the late legend in a tweet, saying, \u201cThe ACU football community is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Texas coaching legend Gary Gaines, who spent five years at the helm of the Wildcat program. We are sending our condolences to the Gaines family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The ACU football community is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Texas coaching legend Gary Gaines, who spent five years at the helm of the Wildcat program. We are sending our condolences to the Gaines family. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9nmVPLd2FL\">pic.twitter.com\/9nmVPLd2FL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ACU Football (@ACUFootball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ACUFootball\/status\/1561909712920125443?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>CBS7 Sports Director Jakob Brandenburg noted that Gaines had coached Permian himself in the season following the now-famous 1988 run to the championship that was detailed in the book and the movie.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: Former Permian Coach Gary Gaines, made famous by Friday Night Lights, died this evening according to his family. <\/p>\n<p>Gaines coached the Panthers to the state championship in 1989, the year after the season chronicled in the book and movie. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/txhsfb?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#txhsfb<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QZBJOHX8nR\">pic.twitter.com\/QZBJOHX8nR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jakob Brandenburg (@Jakob_BburgTV) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jakob_BburgTV\/status\/1561872711005208577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cRIP to ex-Permian coach Gary Gaines, who died at 73. In 1986 I had the privilege of covering Permian for Odessa American, Gaines\u2019 1st year at PHS. Mojo didn\u2019t make playoffs that year, a rarity for school. Gaines was such an incredible person &#038; immortalized in Friday Night Lights,\u201d\u00a0Brett McMurphy <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Brett_McMurphy\/status\/1562081791506259971\">added<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRIP Coach Gary Gaines. We lost a great coach and a better man,\u201d Permian\u2019s official account <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OdessaPermian\/status\/1561881889748705280\">tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Lobo Sports Network added a tribute as well, saying, \u201cFormer Monahans Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Gary Gaines passed away earlier today. Long before Friday Night Lights fame, Coach Gaines transformed Monahans Football into a West Texas powerhouse. Rest In Peace Coach Gaines. You are once again PERFECT.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Former Monahans Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Gary Gaines passed away earlier today. Long before Friday Night Lights fame, Coach Gaines transformed Monahans Football into a West Texas powerhouse. Rest In Peace Coach Gaines. You are once again PERFECT. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/i0XDYxmx6c\">pic.twitter.com\/i0XDYxmx6c<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LOBO SPORTS NETWORK (@LOBOES) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LOBOES\/status\/1561895764099563520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>WATCH:<\/strong><\/p>\n[embedded content]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Longtime high school football coach Gary Gaines has passed away at the age of 73, according to a statement released by his family on Monday. Gaines, whose coaching career spanned four decades, was the inspiration behind the popular book and film \u201cFriday Night Lights,\u201d where he was portrayed by actor Billy Bob Thornton. His family &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1620176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1620174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1620174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1620176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1620174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1620174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1620174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}